Rack for holding rods

ABSTRACT

A rack for holding rod members includes two side plates, connecting structures respectively provided at the two side plates, and fastening members provided at the connecting structures of the side plates. By means of the fastening members, two or more the racks can be coupled together in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-side manner or a stack manner to form a combination of racks for holding rod members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a rack for holding rod members and moreparticularly, to a combination of racks, which allows the user tocombine a number of racks in different directions to fit the availableinstallation space.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional rack for holding rod members is known comprising two sideplates, a bottom plate transversely connected between the side plates atthe bottom, an upper bearing plate transversely connected between theside plates at the top, and a lower bearing plate transversely connectedbetween the side plates and spaced between the bottom plate and theupper bearing plate. The upper bearing plate and the lower bearing plateeach have a series of arched notches at the front or back side forsupporting rod members on the bottom plate. The bottom plate is set in aforwardly downwardly sloping position. This structure of rack ispractical for holding rod members. However, the rack has a fixed sizefor holding a predetermined number of rod members. When several racksare used in order to hold a big number of rod members, much floor spaceis required. According to this design, the user cannot easily fastenmultiple racks together.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances inview. It is the main object of the present invention to provide acombination of racks for holding rod members that can easily be set upin any of a variety of forms subject to available installation space.

To achieve this object of the present invention, the rack, which iscapable of combining another same rack to form a combination of racksfor holding rod members, comprises two side plates, a bottom plate, anupper bearing plate and a lower bearing plate all connected between theside plates for holding rod members, and coupling means for coupling theone of the plates to another one of plates of the another same rack toform the combination of racks.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side plates eachhave a first connecting structure, a second connecting structure and athird connecting structure such that two or more the racks can beselectively combined in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-side manner ora stack manner by means of the coupling means.

In the preferred embodiment, the coupling means comprises screw boltsengageable into screw holes provided in the side plates of the racks,and nuts respectively threaded onto the screw bolts.

In still the preferred embodiment, the coupling means comprises plugpins insertable into holes provided in the side plates of the racks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rack according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing showing the action of one arrangement ofthe combination of racks according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view in an enlarged scale of a part of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is an assembly view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing the action of another arrangementof the combination of racks according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view in an enlarged scale of a part of the presentinvention, showing the detail of the third connecting structure of eachside plate and the part of the coupling means corresponding to the thirdconnecting structure of each side plate.

FIG. 7 is an assembly view of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a schematic drawing showing the action of still anotherarrangement of the combination of racks according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is an assembly view of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a rack 10 in accordance with the present inventioncomprises a front side 12 and a back side 14, and coupling means 60 forcoupling the rack 10 to another rack 10 together. The rack 10 comprisestwo side plates 20, a transverse bottom plate 30, a transverse upperbearing plate 40, a transverse lower bearing plate 50, two angle plates70, and a face plate 80.

The side plates 20 are rectangular flat members each having a firstconnecting structure 21, a second connecting structure 22, and a thirdconnecting structure 23. The bottom plate 30 is transversely connectedbetween the side plates 20 at the bottom side in a forwardly downwardlyextended sloping manner toward the front side 12. The upper bearingplate 40 is transversely connected between the side plates 20 at the topside, having a plurality of arched notches 42 arranged in series in thefront side thereof and provided with openings facing the front side 12of the rack 10. The lower bearing plate 50 is transversely connectedbetween the side plates 20 and spaced below the upper bearing plate 40but above the bottom plate 30, having a plurality of arched notches 52arranged in series in the back side thereof and provided with openingsfacing the back side 14 of the rack 10. The two angle plates 70 arerespectively provided at the top side of the side plates 20. The faceplate 80 is fastened to the angle plates 70 at the top for postingcompany logo, advertising matter, or the like.

When loading a rod member 90 in one rack 10, the rod member 90 isvertically inserted through one arched notch 42 of the upper bearingplate 40 and the respective arched notch 52 of the lower bearing plate50, keeping the bottom end of the rod member 90 rested on the bottomplate 30.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. I again, the first connecting structure 21of each side plate 20 comprises two mounting flanges 211 respectivelyperpendicularly extending from the front and back sides of therespective side plate 20 in same direction, and a plurality of screwholes 212 respectively symmetrically formed in the mounting flanges 211.Alternatively, each screw hole 212 can be formed in a respective hollowbolt 213, which has an outer thread 214 threaded into a respectivethrough hole 219 in the respective mounting flange 211 of the respectiveside plate 20 and an inner thread 215 forming the screw hole 212. Thecoupling means 60 comprises a plurality of first fastening members 61,for example, screw bolts 611 that can be respectively mounted in thescrew holes 212 at the mounting flanges 211 of the side plates 20 andscrewed up with a respective nut 612 to secure the two racks 10 togetherin a back-to-back manner as shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, the second connecting structure 22 of eachside plate 20 comprises two through holes 221 respectively formed in therespective side plate 20. The through holes 221 in one of the two sideplates 20 of each rack 10 are hexagonal through holes 222. The couplingmeans 60 further comprises a plurality of second fastening members 62,for example, screw bolts 621 that can be respectively mounted in thethrough holes 221 of one of the two racks 10 and a plurality of nuts 622that can be mounted in the hexagonal through holes 222 of the other ofthe two racks 10 and threaded onto the screw bolts 621 to fasten the tworacks 10 together in a side-to-side manner as shown in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 6, 8 and 9, the third connecting structure 23 of eachside plate 20 comprises two mounting flanges 231 respectivelyperpendicularly extending from the top and bottom sides of therespective side plate 20 and two holes 232 respectively formed in themounting flanges 231. The coupling means 60 further comprises aplurality of third fastening members 63, for example, plug pins 63 thatcan be respectively mounted in the holes 232 to fasten the two racks 10vertically in a stack as shown in FIG. 9.

1. A rack for holding rod members, which is capable of combining anothersame rack to form a combination of racks for holding rod members, havinga front side and a back side, the rack comprising: two side plates eachhaving a connecting structure; a bottom plate connected between saidside plates in a sloping manner toward the front side; an upper bearingplate connected between said side plates, said upper bearing platehaving a plurality of notches having openings facing the front side; alower bearing plate connected between said side plates and locatedbetween said upper bearing plate and said bottom plate, said lowerbearing plate having a plurality of notches having openings facing theback side; and coupling means installed in one of said connectingstructures of said side plates for coupling the one of said side platesto another one of side plates of the another same rack to form thecombination of racks.
 2. The rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein theconnecting structure of each said side plate comprises a mounting flangeat a side of the respective side plate and a screw hole formed in saidmounting flange; said coupling means comprises a plurality of screwbolts respectively mounted in the screw holes in the mounting flanges ofsaid side plates.
 3. The rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein theconnecting structure of each said side plate further comprises a hollowbolt having an outer thread threaded into said mounting flange and aninner thread that forms the screw hole of the respective side plate. 4.The rack as claimed in claim 2, wherein said coupling means furthercomprises a plurality of nuts respectively threaded onto said screwbolts.
 5. The rack as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connectingstructure of each said side plate comprises a through hole formed in therespective side plate; said coupling means comprises a plurality ofscrew bolts respectively mounted in the through holes of the connectingstructure of each said side plate and a plurality of nuts respectivelythreaded onto said screw bolts.
 6. The rack as claimed in claim 1,wherein the connecting structure of each said side plate comprises amounting flange at a side of said respective side plate and a holeformed in said mounting flange; said coupling means comprises aplurality of plug pins respectively mounted in the holes at the mountingflanges.
 7. The rack as claimed in claim 1, further comprising two angleplates respectively fastened to the respective side plates at a topside, and a face plate connected between said angle plates.
 8. Acombination of racks for holding rod members comprising at least tworacks combined together, each said rack comprising: two side plates; andtransverse plates connected between said side plates for holding rodmembers thereon; wherein said two side plates each have a firstconnecting structure, a second connecting structure and a thirdconnecting structure, which are selectively respectively connectable tothe first connecting structure, the second connecting structure or thethird connecting structure of one side plate of the another rack forcombining selectively the racks in a back-to-back manner, a side-to-sidemanner or a stack manner.
 9. The combination of racks of claim 8,further comprising screw bolts; wherein the first connecting structureof each said side plate comprises screw holes formed at front and backsides of said respective side plate; wherein the screw bolts arerespectively mounted in the screw holes for combining the racks in theback-to-back manner.
 10. The combination of racks of claim 8, furthercomprising screw bolts and nuts threaded respectively onto the screwbolts; wherein the second connecting structure of each said side platecomprises through holes through which the screw blots are respectivelyinserted for combining the racks in the side-to-side manner.
 11. Thecombination of racks of claim 8, further comprising plug pins; whereinthe third connecting structure of each said side plate comprises holesformed in top and bottom sides of the respective side plate; wherein theplug pins are respectively inserted into the holes for combining theracks in the stack manner.